"They were going to take a cruise round the islands `black-bird' catching."
1872. `The Argus,' Dec. 21, Supplement, p. 2, col. 1 [Chief Justice's charge in the case of the `Carl Outrage']:
"They were not going pearl-fishing but blackbird-hunting. It is said you should have evidence as to what blackbird-hunting meant. I think it is a grievous mistake to pretend to ignorance of things passing before our eyes everyday. We may know the meaning of slang words, though we do not use them. Is there not a wide distinction between blackbird-hunting and a legitimate labour-trade, if such a thing is to be carried on? What did he allude to? To get labourers honestly if they could, but, if not, any way?"
1881. `Chequered Career,' p.188 (`O.E.D.')
"The white men on board know that if once the `blackbirds' burst the hatches . . . they would soon master the ship."
<hw>Black-birding</hw>, <i>n</i>. kidnapping natives of South Sea islands for service in Queensland plantations.
1871. `Narrative of the Voyage of the Brig Carl' [pamphlet]:
"All the three methods, however, of obtaining labour in the South Seas—that which was just and useful, that which was of suspicious character, and that which was nothing, more or less, than robbery and murder—were in use the same time, and all three went by the same general slang term of `blackbirding,' or `blackbird catching.'"
1872. Rev. H. S. Fagan, `The Dark Blue' (Magazine), June, p. 437:
"Well, you see how it is that C is not safe, even though he is a missionary bishop, after A has made the name of missionary an offence by his ingenious mode of `black-birding.'"